Fire Emblen: Corona Awakening
by VirusChris
Summary: There are many alternate timelines of the same story, the same tale with different happenings within those universes. But in one reality a boy from another universe is flung into this tale of war and friendship with a darker entity after him. So now how will this boy, who was not meant to be here, affect the world he's in? Robin/Lucina and OC/? Pairing
1. Prologue: Hey, Will You Listen?

**PROLOGUE: Hey… will you listen?**

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A lone figure walks to the center of this endless space, a world of darkness around them, with seemingly nothing to support a person's footing of any kind as a group followed this lone figure to the center of the space. The figure was a young man, a friend of theirs, but most of the darkness covered him making it difficult to see him except for the faint outline of his body. His face can be barely seen by the soft blue hue from above as the group follows his gaze upward towards the stars.

Images appeared around them, square boxes with a strange deep blue aura outlining them, like several small theaters showing different shows at the same time. All of them had the same young man in front of the group within these few moving pictures showing him in more peaceful times that told his past. Though it ranged from the most rustical villages to the strangest of cities during his travels but most were about the dread he has faced later on during those times.

In those images they moved to tell a story to the audience, strange buildings made of material the group has never seen before with designs uncommon in their present day as if they were from the future. Yet with all the wondrous sites of these houses were in ruins and set ablaze along with every other building except in the middle, a clearing, of those burning fields was the young man and… a creature the group's world has never seen before but the group knows of it. As their companion has told them about his destiny tied with it and that this was not the group's first meeting with this creature as it appeared in their world already.

Though they could not see the two figures that well they know the smaller one was the young man wielding a pair of twin swords that seemed bigger than his body and heavier. Just as though the blades weigh nothing more than feathers as he charges forward. Blood streaming down his face the same as his arms and legs, with tattered clothing as he roars out at the dark beast in front of him.

This beast… no, this _thing_ that the group could not fully describe it in any sense of their world was nearly twice the size of an average man and its mechanical body was something no ordinary living creature is born with.

Its glaring yellow eyes with white irises burning right back at the boy with its long silver metallic tail whipping to the ground shattering the surface into debris. With the back of its black heavy thin legs split open and blue-yellow fire spewing from it as it dashed forward at incredible high-speed almost appearing as a blur to the world. With its large arms and metal finger claws it encased its right arm in a glow of white light, with sounds of gear shifting, transforming it into an arm cannon.

Within the moving picture the city around the area writhed in pain as the fires darken the skies with a blood red color with black smog covering the air. Ashes falling from the sky, as the audience watched on with horror and incapacitation.

Despite a look of an apocalyptic world where the two fought in yet it was not their home world from whence they originally sprung from. As these two titans have transcended time and space to hop from one world to another their fates intertwined as the young man has explained to the group prior.

This boy, this young man, has chased after it time and again to stop its carnage, savagery, and terror as all the 'negatives' it had build within it. Gathering the 'negatives' naturally and unconsciously from each jump to other worlds causing it to go mad as the creature rampages everywhere that filled it with hopelessness and dread. As it attack all life forms indiscriminately with rage even when it tried its best to direct its fury at the wicked which has lead them to their fight in this moving picture.

The dual blader dodges the strange fiery energy ball of light from the cannon the creature shot with that it burned the very air around it as it made contact with one of the ruined building as the explosive, engulfed the entire background behind the boy in an ominous white light as the shadows darken the front of his body from the light of death behind him. As he charged forward with his dual swords in hand as the creature's arm cannon transformed once again into a large blade. Soon a glowing blue aura with orange outlines encased the blade with an electrical current coursing though it as both blades made contact with each other.

The young man's blades encased themselves in a coating of energy that the blades looked like a sword-shaped universe but one in black while the other in white as it struck the humming blue blade of the dark beast. As when they clashed with each other the ground below them exploded, from the force of their colliding attacks, into rocks and debris flying into the air yet the two beings were not shaken by this as they held their ground. With blades locked-on to one another as their eyes glared at each other, yet deep within those irises of theirs held a strange sense of rivalry towards one another as they both smirk and in blurring motion struck blow for blow with their blades.

As the two titans clash with one another, fighting to their last breathe in their seemingly final battle. Their blood flying everywhere after each time their glowing blades cut the other inhuman warrior with red streaming throughout the air belonging to the young man and the glowing orange fluids belonging to the creature as the two pressed on with their attacks ignoring their wounds altogether. As they dance amidst the sea of flames around them with the sounds of steel and thunder echoing throughout the ruined wastelands.

"Hey," the boy gently whispered with a smile as he turned his back to the group behind him, "Will you listen to my story?"


	2. The Boy That Shouldn't Exist

**FIRE EMBLEM: CORONA AWAKENING**

* * *

**Summary:** There are many alternate timelines of the same story, the same tale with different happenings with the beings within that universe. But in one reality a boy from another universe is flung into this tale of war and friendship with a darker entity after him. So now how will this boy, who was not meant to be here, affect the world he's in? Robin/Lucina and OC/? Pairing

A semi-self insert tale.

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**CHAPTER 1:** **The Boy That Shouldn't Exist**

* * *

The sounds of birds chirping in the air sings the beauty and tranquility of the forest's calm and gentle surroundings as the clear crisp air and the sun beaming the clear blue sky as the light touches very so gracefully on the leaves of the trees and bushes and the little forest critters scatter around basking in the bright new day.

Amiss in the forest's small clearing as the sun's rays shine upon the only spot where the trees do not block its energizing light laid a boy sleeping on the cushy soft blades of grass donned in strange clothing that people around these lands would find rather odd and peculiar as they've never seen such clothing before.

His choice of attire were a red short-sleeve hooded sweatshirt with a black t-shirt underneath, black fingerless gloves, a blue baggy cargo shorts with pockets on the side that went passed his knees a bit. White socks covering his ankles, black basketball sneakers with white soles, and along with his strange clothing in this land he wore a pendant around his neck… a circle with 8 pong points coming from it with half of his right side black and the other half white. Where he is from the symbol in the center would be the emblem of 'Yin & Yang' a balance of light and dark in the world to put it into simple terms.

As the sun's playful rays gently tickles the boy's face as he finally starts to stir as his deep blue eyes reveal themselves and slowly wakes up as he stretches his arms out and lets out a loud yawn. Taking a few moments to after yawning he pulls himself up sitting on the ground as he drowsily rids the sand from his eyes as he surveys the land around him.

With a soft chuckle he gets up as the light brushes passed his short spiky jet black hair with the tips of his hair faded to white as he brushes himself off as he takes one more look around his settings.

"So once again I wake up mysteriously in forest?" he asked to no one in particular except himself as he chuckles to himself as he places a hand on his forehead, "How many times does that make it? My third or fourth time? Well at least I didn't lose my memories this time around… let me check… yeah my memories are intact."

"But how did I get here? Let's see…," he hummed to himself as he tries to recollect the earliest memories to his predicament and then he grimace as the knowledge made itself known to him.

Letting out an tiresome sigh, making one think this isn't the first time he has dealt with such incongruous matters, he clears his throat and makes a wry smile to himself, "What is it with the cryptic requests? Seriously can't anyone just give a straight answer for once? You there Vi?"

Calling to someone the boy refers to as 'Vi' he simply smiles to himself with an understanding and soft expression as he shakes his head, "Heh… you always did find the appropriate time to sleep when I need you, but I'll give you some rest for a while. After our little 'rendezvous' that lead us here I don't blame ya, I'll worry about where am I and to gather some intel to get a started on our next biggest adventure."

Checking where he was once more he looked up and saw a flock of birds in a V-formation fly passed as the boy looks back where the birds head.

"I'll take it that there's south so I'll go north and hope to find a town or something to get a better idea where I am… this doesn't look like home or any places I've been to before even though this place vaguely reminds me of that _world_," the boy confirmed to himself as he heads northward in hope of finding a town or something to help identity his place of destination.

Trudging through the forest as he careful brushes the branches away from him and avoid tall bushes and grass as to avoid any unnecessary woodland critters living among them until he came out into a clearing with a road up ahead. Following it upward in hope it will lead him to a town nearby as the further he goes up north the vague sight of buildings up ahead causes the lad to break into a small smile that his instincts were right and soon he'll find out where he was so he can learn what to do here in this world.

Upon his arrival at the town made for mixed emotion and reaction to him and the townspeople alike. The town looked like something from the medieval era from where the boy in red knows of back home and is quite surprised to see himself in such a setting.

Stone roads, grey stone houses with some with wooden roofs while others had appropriate stone ceiling as well as the various farms and livestock about but near the edge of town instead of the inner part of the town. And for the people living in the town dressed simple clothing of wool and the like for fabric and their expression were met with shock, awe, and curiosity.

Some of the folks were baffled by this strange boy's appearance as they never saw him before or his clothing and some began whispering to each other as the boy continued to walk down the streets with a calm and relax look about him as he tried to find someone who didn't give him a strange look in the town and happens upon a middle-age man stocking up supplies on his cart as he begins to go to work.

"Excuse me, sir, would you be kind enough to tell me where I am?" the boy asked the gentleman as politely as he can.

The middle-aged man grunted a bit as he turned around to face the source of the voice and looked somewhat agitated until he got a good look at the stranger, shocked initially until he narrowed his eyes, "You don't know where you are? You're in **Southtown** in the halidom of **Ylisse**, aren't you a traveler? Don't you know that?"

The boy widens his eyes a bit, but not at the man's somewhat honest but grumpy reply, but at the fact he's in a place he doesn't know. Another world he doesn't know about… again… and needs to find out why he's here as even since that day he's become a so-called **slider** which was the beginning of these adventures.

"I see… I was lost so I didn't know, but thank you sir! Is there an inn or a pub nearby where I can rest?" the boy asked gently with a smile on his face as not ailed by his previous attitude.

"Just follow the road from here, east, and you'll find the pub in the center of town," the middle-aged man pointed to the direction of the pub.

"Thank you kindly sir!" the boy in red bowed as he went in the direction the man pointed to as he tried his best to find the right words and accent for this world but finds it awkward.

"Damn foreigner… weird lot, all of them…" the man muttered to himself thinking the boy was some strange aristocrat from a foreign country judging by his strange but very nice clothing.

As he finds the pub, in a more well-constructed and beautiful part of town, he enters the establishment with the smell of alcohol filling the air as well as some smoking from certain areas of the pub as the boy scrunches his nose as finds the smell in the air… unpleasant.

Many faces in the pub turned their heads to see the newcomer enter and most had very bewildered looks on their faces as the saw this boy in red as he looks around the place scoping out the finer details of the place. Some were worried, while others passed him off as a strange aristocrat, and some eyeing him suspiciously as he walks up to the counter with both the bartender and owner of the place wiping some of the glass cups.

"Excuse me, do you have a room I can spend the night here?" the boy asked the owner, an elderly gentleman, as he wipes one of the glass with a cloth as the man looks at him curiously.

"Yes, we have a room available for the night," the man replied back not taking his eyes off of the boy. _What in Naga's name is he wearing? That doesn't look like silk and it's unusual for one to travel alone especially for one so young._

"Wonderful!" the boy smiled as he pulled something out of his pocket, "I'm not sure what the currency is around here, but will these do for now?"

He places a few sparkling white gems, tiny versions of diamonds, onto the counter as payment. The owner's eyes widen in shock and wonder as he's never seen such gems before and looked quite rare as some of the other customers looked at them with glee in their eyes.

"O-Of course! This is enough to buy the entire pub and everything in it with this amount! Are you sure?" the owner asked in disbelief as he can't believe someone would pay with such trinkets in hand.

"Yeah… that's all I got for the moment before finding a few odd jobs to tie me over. Mind if I get a glass of water?" the boy asked as he looked at the contents on the shelves with discontent as he saw alcohol and wine as he sees, "I'm not big on drinking…"

"Of course, please take a seat young man," the owner nodded with a smile on his face while he gets him a drink, "And would you like a meal as well?"

The boy asked for some simple meat and headed to an empty table as he waited, leaning back on the chair as he ponders to himself.

_Hmm… this is quite troubling, I'm not sure what kind of world I'm in right now nor know what state it's in. It seems like my abilities are back to sleeping once again, though it's more than all those other times, meaning it will be some time before I can use my full powers again. I wonder how everyone's doing? Are they worried about me? Heh, probably not for some of them…_ the red boy chuckled to himself as the thought passed him and continue to think of what his next move will be as he knows he cannot linger in this world for too long.

While being lost in thought he doesn't notice a group of men dressed in animal attire circle around him with smug looks in their eyes as they crept up on him.

It took him a moment to realize he was surrounded by the group of men, but seems oblivious or doesn't care about the situation before him and greeted them with a smile as the other customers in the establishment look on with worry but don't bother to step in.

"Well what do we have here?" a red-haired man with red marking on his face donned with animal attire says as he smiles at the boy, "You're not from around these here parts are ye laddie? Tell me where did you find those pretty little trinkets there earlier? Ye don't look like a warrior or mercenary, you a noble?"

The boy in red chuckled at his question, "Me? A noble? I'm more middle-class actually and my friends and I went exploring in some caverns where we found those gems a long time ago, but my friends and I had no use for them so I kept them in case somebody needed them or I might need to get out of a tight spot."

"Is that right? Gwa ha ha," the red-haired man smiled rather evilly.

"Garrick, sir, perhaps we should 'treat' our new friend here? He'll sing about the location of that cavern once we treat him right," one of Garrick's mercenaries said as he places his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Hmm?" Chris frowns a bit and his brow arched down as well as he pondered, "Well even IF I told you what cavern it was you'll never get there and even if you do somehow get there it's still incredible dangerous to wander in there without first knowing the dangers."

"Is that so, runt?" The mercenary said as he tilted the chair over with the boy on it and grabs a cup of water from the owner that was standing nearby with his order ready but was wary of Garrick and his men and pours the water over the boy's head, "Here, take a sip… this is going to be a while."

"Are you already?" one of the female employees said as she rushes over to the boy as he sits up and starts chuckling to himself which the young women looked at him worryingly.

"Haha! It's alright! It was kinda refreshing having cold water splashed over my warm head, so it's all good!" the boy continued to laugh heartily and to the people he seemed to enjoy it strangely while some of the people thought he was mad.

However Garrick and his men didn't find it amusing that the boy pay no mind to their sudden rudeness towards him.

"Tsk… we got ourselves a weird one, eh?" Garrick grumbles a bit as he heads out the door, "You boys _entertain_ our guest while I take care of some business in town, orders from the boss. Be sure to be real gentle with him you hear?"

Garrick laughs heartily as he exits out of the building as Garrick's men surround the boy in red again as the boy got up and dusted himself off and dried off as well since the woman brought him a towel to dry off with and gave it back to her as she backs away but worried about the boy's safety around these men.

"Well then, shall we get started laddie?" one of the mercenaries said as the group draws their weapons concealed in their clothing or sheathes. As the men smile wickedly at the boy in red, the boy however wasn't scared in the least remaining calm, but more shockingly he was smiling casually.

The boy started to crackle his knuckles as he smiles at the men around him, "Honestly no matter where I go there's always going to be trouble that follows me, but first let's see if I can't teach you guys some manners, mhm?"

The mercenaries started laugh as the boy got into a strange stance, bending his knees and stretching his leg out as he lowers himself with his left arm out with an open palm and his right arm above him with a closed fist. A foreign concept to them as they find the boy's less-than-convincing act of bravery hilarious as one of the men came chasing in with a long steel sword as he aimed for the boy's arm.

Though the customers started to hide or take cover and worried for the young man's life as the man drew closer, but the boy in red simply smirked and then… shifted back and leg sweep the man with the back of his right foot. As he tripped the mercenary the boy in red darted passed him and grappled one of the men's right arm with his right and twisted it as he slammed his left palm into his elbow joint spraining it as the men let out a bellowing scream of pain and shoved to the ground from a palm to the shoulder and slammed down to the ground on its back.

The mercenaries were taken by surprised at the boy's absurd speed, agility, and strength that betrayed his slim, lean, and hardly muscle-toned body to them as he turns around and double palm strike the next mercenary with a steel plate and shockingly destroyed the mail with his bare palms. This action caused some of the men to freak out that a boy, an _unarmed kid_ to them, was capable of destroying a steel plate meant to shield against swords and other weapons with his bare hands.

Not to be taken by surprise anymore some of the men decided to attack the boy with his back turned but to no avail as he jumped onto the table and tilted it over by applying his weight to the other side causing the other side of the table to rise up and smack into the men's chins knocking them over as the caresses their chin as they rolled over on the ground in pain.

The boy jumps over one of the men with his back against their back as the mercenary tries to turn around to attack the boy with his daggers but he simply moved in the opposite direction of them, in a strange dance sort of way, as the boy leg sweep the man in a split second and shoved him into a chair. As one of the men tries to hack at him with their sword but the boy in red spun around in a side-step motion performing quick light jabs into the man's arms and side of his chest stunning the mercenary and chopping the man in the back of the neck with his hand effectively knocking him out.

One of the few remaining mercenaries comes charging in and swings his sword down onto the boy, but he quickly grabs his wrist and twists it causing the man to drop the sword. Grunting in pain as the boy closed his free hand into a fist save for the his index and middle finger and punctures the man's arm with few quick and precision needle-like strikes across the man's arm. As the boy let's go and motions around quickly to slam his palm into his chest, denting his mail plate in, and as the man stumbles backwards his arm flings down almost lifelessly as the man looks at his arm questionable and horror.

"I hope you don't need that arm for a few days," the boy smirked at him.

"Ugh! What the hell did you do to my arm?!" He shouted in rage as he glares daggers at the boy.

"Just some simple chi-blocking strikes called **Hyol Do Bup** that strikes the nerve points in the human body with pressure and temporality paralysis the body," the boy answered the man's question, "To put it to simple terms."

However the man looked at him like he was crazy and he doesn't know what he was talking about as he charges in at him madly with his other arm up but the boy counters this by grappling his collar and pulls him down as the boy falls on his back and kicks him in the stomach to launch him into the air as the man flies across the room and enter a table, conked out.

The boy rolls back and uses his hands to push himself off the ground and land on his feet as he stands up and gets back into his crouching fighting stance and taunts at them by flicking his hand to beckon them to get closer to him as the men look to one another, not sure what to do or say as they didn't expect this strange boy in red to be an expert fighter.

"Who's next?" the boy taunted at the mercenaries as he looks at them smugly.

* * *

Outside the skirts of town a group of unusual party outside discussing what to do to the latest member of their group and see how they can help them. In the party there is a man with blue-hair donned in an armor that covers his chest and leggings as well with a white cape fashion to his armor, a delicate blonde-hair young lady in a yellow dress with pig tails, and a tall brown-hair man with a stoic and poise in full armor save for his head, and finally a young man with black hair dressed in robes that mages are accustom to.

"We're almost to town. Once we-" the blue-haired man spoke behind the young lady interrupted him and pointed the town up ahead.

"Chrom, look! The town!"

The blue-haired scowled as he sees the town start to blaze, "Damn it! The town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands, no doubt… Frederick, Lissa! Quickly!"

The man in armor, Frederick, nods in response but quickly turns in the direction of the man in robes, "What about him?"

"Unless he's on fire as well, it can wait!"

"Aptly put, milord."

"Let's go already!" the young lady, Lissa, demanded in a worried tone as she fears the safety of the townsfolk in the Southtown.

And the three of them rushed off to aid the citizens leaving the young black-haired man behind.

"But what about- Hmm…" he tried to call out but they were already gone and out of ear's reach as the young man pondered in place and hurries after them.

As they hurried to Southtown, in the center of the town and outside of the entrance to the town's pub where there's fire around the surrounding area Garrick looks on with glee and satisfaction as he laughs at the chaos he created in the name of his lord.

"Gwa ha ha! Get to it, lads! Grab anything, and put the rest to torch!" Garrick commands his fellow mercenaries as they burn down houses, attack the citizens, and stole every valuables in sight, "We gots an example to set for these Ylissean types! Ain't that right, lass?"

Garrick glanced behind his back and eyed dirtily at the young maiden behind him who was cowering against the stone wall.

"S-stay away from me!" the maiden cried out in terror and fear with tears rolling down her face, "Please! Someone! HEEEEEELP!"

As if to heed the maiden's call for help the travelers from before arrived to the see much to their horrors to see this beautiful town in flames and its citizens being attacked, wounded by these monsters and some left in worsen conditions.

"Chrom, we have to stop them!" Lissa cried out as she tries to mask the terror in her eyes and voice.

"Don't worry- after today, these bandits won't be bothering anyone ever again…," Chrom shouted with confidence and steeled his visions on the men responsible for this horror as he does his best to grit his teeth to hide his fury and rage.

"Wait!"

The group turned other to see the man in robes they had with them before run up to them, surprised that he chased after them.

"Robin! You followed us? Why?" Chrom asked genuine confused and a little worried that he's here with his current memory loss even if he means well.

"I… I'm not certain myself. But I'm armed, and I know my way around a fight, if you'll have me," Robin, the young man in the robes, requested as he points to a sheathed sword at his waist as he opens up a layer of his robe to reveal it.

Chrom nods in response, a hint of satisfied in the depth of his dark blue eyes, "Of course– strength in numbers. Just stay close!"

"Remember, Robin, we face practiced thieves and murderers. They will grant us no quarter. It's kill or be killed," Frederick the Wary advised Robin as they prepare themselves for the battle to come.

"I understand," Robin grunted as the thought came to him unpleasantly as he doesn't enjoy the thought of killing others but Frederick is right and they cannot show any mercy to these monsters.

As the young man, Robin, joined Chrom and his team the run into the center of town and attack the bandits, thieves, and mercenaries that Garrick has under his command as Garrick clicked his tongue in annoyance as the **Shepherds** have finally shown themselves at last.

* * *

"J-Just… just what the hell are you!?" the last of Garrick's men in the pub said and he shrinks back timidly with horrors in his eyes as he shakes uncontrollably with his sword pointing at the boy in red in fearful defense as the crow around them looked on with awe and disbelief.

The young man just glances at him with his furrowed brow and frowns slightly as he tosses the body of the recently knocked out mercenary to the side into the group of defeated mercenaries laying around the boy in red, having the man's body suspended over his head as if he didn't weigh anything at all, and just walks forward to the man before him and coolly says, "The worst possible person to tick off."

* * *

Garrick clicked his tongue in annoyance as everything was going smoothly for him today, finding out a stranger foreign noble with access to rare and priceless gems was the cream of the topping and ravaging the town to provoke the kingdom of Ylisse to retaliate, but wasn't counting on the Shepherds to interface so soon and quickly took out some of his men already once that strange man in the robes came in providing additional support with his tactics and magic along with his swordplay making him a dangerous foe indeed but it was also the leader of the group that has him concerned.

_Tsk, if worse comes to worse I can make way by taking whatever's left of that foreign noble and his gems with me,_ Garrick thought evilly to himself as he'll be building an impressive nest egg later today.

***SMASH***

But his train of thought stopped as one of his men was flung out the door with unimaginable speed as his armor plate was busted up and his back smashed into the stone wall outside and Garrick looked back to the tavern he was in a moment ago and sees the boy in red walking out with a very determined and angry expression on his face.

_What in the name of Naga!?_ Garrick's eyes betrayed him as he couldn't and wouldn't believe that the little boy in red earlier took out _all_ of his mercenaries in the tavern without any weapons at all and without a single scratch on him. It was unheard of to him and he couldn't stop shaking… what on earth was this boy!? Surely this is some kind of trickery or sorcery, right? There's no way he could possibly bested his men so easily.

"Please! Help me!" a woman shouted that was corned behind Garrick for the boy in red to help her.

The boy in red glances at her and reassures her with a gentle smile and nod before returning his gaze on Garrick and glaring at him, bit angry at what he's done as he approaches him slowly, "You've got a _lot of nerves_ attack this town and harming its people! Let alone tried to rob and assault me. So you better be prepared to face the consequences of your actions!"

"Tsk… you think you can stop me! Well then, come here, sheepy sheepy! Come to the slaughter!" Garrick taunted as he summoned more of his men to his side and commanded him to attack the boy in red and he stares them down ready for what's to come.

"Chrom, look!" Lissa call out to her older brother as he and the rest of their group turned around to see a boy in strange clothing, especially the strange red coat with a hood attach to it, as a group of the bandit leader's men attack him.

"Gods, no! We have to help that lad!" Chrom bellowed as he hack away one of the bandit as another two take his place, "Damn! Will this ever end! Robin we need to hurry and help him!"

"You're right! Get the bandits over here. I've got an idea how to sweep the whole lot of them swiftly and quickly so we can help him!" Robin advised Chrom as their leader hurried back, but cursing himself that he will be unable to help the boy in red anytime soon.

"That might not be needed milord," Frederick pointed out as he eyes grew in awe and bewilderment which caused Chrom, Lissa, and Robin to look questionable at Frederick as they turn their heads into the direction of where Frederick was looking as well as the bandits they were fighting and were shocked at what they see.

The boy in red parried away the swordsmen's attacks by side-stepping away and swatting at their wrist with nothing but the palms of his hand and gave some of them a right cross in the chest, destroying their chest plate in the process.

Chrom blinked as he couldn't believe his eyes, "How in the–? Did he just destroy their mail with _just his bare hands_?!"

Three of Garrick's men came charging at the boy in red as he crouch down and sweep his legs in an incredible blurry fast motion as he tripped the men over on their back. As the boy in red quickly and effortless grabs one of them by the foot while in midair and starts swinging them around like battering ram he pummels another group of bandits jumping at them and rolling them over.

As two more attack him from behind him back-flips over them by jumping into the air and grabbing their heads and smashing them into each other before he flies over them landing on his feet. A group of armed men surrounded the boy as looks around and grabs a long rope nearby the pub's barrels, possible for emergencies, and lets the men come in closer.

As the boy in red spun the rope around each one of the warriors as he sways his body away to dodge the incoming slashes and palm struck them, jumped over them, sweep kick them, and slapped away their sword hands as he drew them closer to the bridge and successful gets one of them behind him as he smirked.

"The lad's crazy! Get 'im boys!" one of the mercenaries said as they all charge in at him, unaware of the long brown rope connecting each one of them and their fellow comrade behind the boy in red.

As they got closer the boy in red back-kicked the man behind him knocking him over the bridge and into the river with the rope tugging the rest of the men connected to it dragging them all over the bridge as the scream in fear as the boy looks behind him with a small smirk.

On one of the rooftops an Archer of Garrick's crew tries to attack the boy in red from the left side while he looks at his work of effectively throwing the men over the bridge with an arrow flying at his head.

Just as the arrow was about to skewer his cheek his left hand shot up and grabbed the arrow stopping it dead in its tracks before he could hit him as the boy glares at it and snaps it in half with the same hand he grabbed it while looking at the Archer. Garrick, the archer, and Chrom and his company looked on with frozen shock expressions on their faces.

"D-Did he just catch an arrow with his bare hands?" Chrom said beside himself as he could scarcely believe what his eyes are telling him.

"I know my amnesia problem, but I can safely say I don't think I've _ever_ see someone fight the way he does," Robin analyzed as he narrowed his eyes in disbelief. This boy in red was truly a one-of-a-kind fighter and Robin can tell from the looks in the boy in red's eyes that he is no stranger to life and death battles and has fought for years.

"Remarkable, if I do say so myself. But by careful milord, we still do not know if he is someone we can trust," the armored cavalryman Frederick expressed his thoughts.

"But do you see what he just did there! He's SO awesome," Lissa cheered with a positive response as she looks at the boy in red with admiration as their group is just about done with Garrick's men in the town square.

Garrick's mages that were hidden away until now appeared from the shadows as they launched spells from the tomes, fire, wind, and lightning by channeling the power from their tomes as they came falling from the sky in a hellish storm as they come upon the boy in red. But he seems to scoff at them as he cartwheels, flips, and jumps all around the places as he dodges all of the attacks.

"What in blooming hell!? How's that lad doing this?!" Garrick shrieked in horror as the boy in red continue to dodge the mage's spells and suddenly vanish in a red blur where he was a moment dodging causing everyone to blink in confused.

"What the…? He disappeared?" Lissa spoke dumbfounded as they didn't expect him to just vanish into thin air like that.

"GAH!"

Sounds of groans were heard as the mages were struck from the back and fell to the ground with the boy in red behind one of them as he sets his sights on Garrick being the last one standing.

Cracking his knuckles as he slowly approaches Garrick with a very dangerous look in his eyes as the man in animal attire cowers in a fear.

"Grh– This wasn't supposed to happen! How can a homely lad like you single-handily crush my special selective mercenaries!?" Garrick quacked in angry and fear.

"Hah… Let's say I have more experience fighting against the unexpected. Now then **face judgment and repent!**" the boy in red darted to Garrick with lightning speed.

"Hold on, there lad! We're coming to assist you!" Chrom called out to the boy in red as he hurries across the battlefield to help him.

"Chrom, wait! Before we do that let's help out the villagers and get them to safety," Robin pointed out as both Frederick and Lissa tended to the wounded, "And judging what we've seen of what that strange boy can do he'll definitely by fine in the meantime."

"I suppose you're right, Robin," Chrom sighed as he knows Robin is right yet Chrom feels like he's abandoning the boy in red. But deep down to him, and strangely, he believes this boy will prevail as the leader of the Shepherds hurries to one of the burning buildings with Robin to rescue the villagers trapped inside.

"Die you swine!" Garrick lashes out at the boy in red as he sways his body away from Garrick's attack with his giant axe, feats of blur motions passing by the axe's path, as Garrick howls in fury putting more power and speed to his attacks.

But to no avail as the boy in red continue to simply dodge them with no shows of counterattacking him but with a smug look on his face as he continues to evade the axe.

Garrick growls at him losing his patients with an angry veil popping on his forehead, "You think this is funny lad?!"

Cold beads of sweat dripped down Garrick's face as he hacks at the boy one swing after another without pause or rest as the boy in red just sidestepping out of the each time and occasional yawning at Garrick's attempt to maim him.

Just then Chrom and his group finished helping all of the villagers to safety and treated their wounds they turn their attention to the boy in red and Garricks as the barbaric man storms after the former but keeps mocking his attempts with quick fancy feet.

"Wow, just look at him go! I never see anyone move so fast before!" Lissa chirped as she continues to watch the fight that slowly started to become a strange dance to the group.

"Curious, why hasn't he struck back yet? I've seen many openings in Garrick's attacks," Frederick ponders as he rubs his chin, "Surely the lad is quick enough to end this swiftly going by how he handled the rest of the bandits."

"Why do you keep on dodging? Fight back like a man!" Garrick pants as cold sweat drips down on his face trying to catch his breath as the boy in red smiles.

"You haven't figured it out yet?" the boy in red gave me a smugged look, "Let me indulge you, which do you think consumes one's own stamina the most? Action or passive?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Garrick grunted.

"You see when you swing your axe around you're using a lot of energy flexing your muscles around as you put more power and speed into your attacks," the boy in red educated Garrick, "But with simply swaying you hardly use any stamina at all reserve your energy so you can counterattack at the right moment. Now tell me in the end of a fight who was the most strength left to fight?"

Garrick's eyes widen in fear as the realization donned on him.

"Impressive… that's not a bad strategy," Robin praised to the boy in red from the distance.

"It is?" Lissa asked Robin not quite following.

"Basically the bandit's leader there overtime will lose so much stamina from missing with all his attacks that his blows will be weaker and slower as he keeps it up. While our red friend there just dodging isn't using that much stamina compared to attacking so he'll be in top form still and we overpower his opponent with his full strength," Robin explained to Lissa, "It's similar to traditional siege with waiting out the enemy's resources."

"Wow! That makes him more awesome than before!" Lissa gushed a bit, "He must be hard to outsmart in the heat of battle."

"I'm quite interest in him as well, he must be quite the strategist fighter," Robin mused thinking that he might learn new tactics from his curious boy.

Having enough with this humiliation Garrick charges in at the boy in red like a mad bull.

"JUST DIE!" Garrick bellowed as he slammed the axe over the boy's head as Chrom and the others looked on with horror as the edge of the blade comes closer to the boy's head. Garrick seemingly caught the boy in his last moment.

Everyone paused with absolute bewilderment as Garrick shakes with fear.

The boy in red stopped the axe… with just his index and middle fingers by catching the blade of the axe in-between them. And with one quick motion he scattered the axe in hundreds of pieces as Garrick backs away slowly.

"He stopped an axe with his _fingers_!? And _scattered_ _it with them_!?" Robin mouthed off as no one saw that coming nor believed such a feat was possible.

"What kind of freak are ya laddie!?" Garrick looks at his younger opponent as he smirks at him.

"The worst possible person to ticked off!" the boy in red laughed as he closes in and pounds away at Garrick's stomach with his fists and needle stabs the rest of his body with his fingers.

"Bwaaargh!" Garrick screams out as he finally falls to the ground after receiving the paralysis-induced strikes by the boy in red's unusual attacks fighting methods as the barbaric man lays unconscious and motionless on the ground.

The boy in red quickly finds more rope and binds Garrick's arms and legs together to prevent him from escaping as well as the rest of his crew, taking away their weapons as well to stop any foolish attempts of escaping.

"Well, that's the end of that," Robin calmly said as he looks around the tarnished field, his eyes tightening a bit with regret as he couldn't arrive here faster to prevent such destruction.

"Lucky for the town, we were close by," Lissa perked up trying to reassure Robin as he smiled a bit, "But holy wow, Robin! You were incredible out there! And let's not forget our mystery friend over there!"

Lissa pointed to the boy in red as he strangely walks over to the bridge and looks onto the river, "First an amnesiac man we found sleeping in an open field not too long before that knows swords, sorcery, AND tactics? Is there anything you can't do? And our mystery friend in red was unbelievable! Those moves, his power, AND his super speed! He's an unstoppable force isn't he?"

"You're certainly no helpless victim, that much is for sure," Chrom in agreement as he approaches the boy in red leaning over the bridge, "And that young man over there… I've never seen the likes of him before nor of his… curious clothing. He is quite the aptable fighter."

"Indeed," Frederick frowned, "Robin perhaps you might even be capable of an explanation for how you came here? I would also like to hear that young lad over there as well. And milord I express caution with the town's 'savior' over there, as we know not what he is."

Robin walking beside Frederick sighs a bit as he tries to remember, "I understand your skepticism, Sir Frederick. And I cannot explain why only some knowledge has returned to me. But please, believe me. I have shared all that I know."

"He fought to save Ylissean lives," Chrom smiles, "My heart says that's enough. Just like our mystery friend over there as well. They are people we can trust."

Frederick grunted a bit, "And your mind, milord? Will you not heed its counsel as well?"

"Frederick, the Shepherds could use someone with Robin's talents. And that boy in red's strength could save many lives as he did today," Chrom counseled with Frederick, "We've brigands and unruly neighbors, all looking to bloody our soil. Would you really have us lose such an able tactician and invaluable warrior?"

As Chrom turns his head back to the attention to the boy in red as he just stands there with a sad expression on his face, "And you there, I like to have a word with the stranger that saved these good people today."

The boy perked up and turned his head towards the group as he smiled, "Hey there. You're the folks that were fighting to protect these fair people, right? It's good to know there are kind and just people in this world."

"Thank you and you fought valiantly yourself as well," Chrom smiled back though it lasted a few seconds as his face turned serious, "But can I ask who you might be? You don't seem to be from around these parts."

"Oh right! Where are my manners? Call me Christopher Corona!" the boy in red introduced himself with an upbeat attitude, "But everyone calls me Chris. Mind introducing yourself?"

"Chris? Quite an interesting name. Oh right, I am Chrom and this is my delicate little sister," Chrom mused as he nods to the young girl in the group.

"What did I just finish telling you earlier Chrom… hmph!" Lissa pouted as she didn't like being treated like some helpless dame but shrugged it off as she cheerily smiled at the boy in red, "But anyway it's really nice to meet you Chris! You were totally awesome out there! I've never seen anyone fight the way you do."

"I am quite curious about your fighting style as well," the armored man Frederick say towering over Chris, "I have never seen such a style in Ylissean before."

"You mean my **Kung Fu**?" Chris tilted his head in curiosity.

"Kung… Fu?" Frederick said with a strange expression on his face clearly showing his confusion over the word and its meaning as well as the others sharing his thoughts.

"Kung Fu literally means 'empty hand' in another language I know of which means what it means. One who fights using only their hands, empty of any weapons, and basically turning one's own body into a weapon to fight with," Chris educated them a bit as he notices their dumbfounded expression, "Though Kung Fu is meant to be used to defend one self, never to start fights. There's many different forms to it so I guess you can say I'm a **mixed martial artist** as I've studied a lot of forms."

"Using one's own self as a weapon? Fascinating," Robin ponders about it with an excited glee in his eyes, "I would like to know more about this foreign fighting style. Perhaps if I learn more about it I can incorporate it into my tactics and I have to say you're always not a half-bad tactician yourself."

"More of a fighting genius actually," Chris smirked throwing his arms behind his head in a goofy gesture.

"I'm Robin by the way," the tactician lifted his hand out to shake Chris' hand as he returns the courtesy.

Just as the two shook hands a sudden spark and a strange sensation came over them as their eyes widen in shock as visions came into their minds.

_**[LINEBREAK]**_

_A flame of purple erupted from a strange tall and dark-looking man as he collapses onto his knee before falling to the ground._

_As Chrom looks back at Robin smiling to confirm their victory together over the menacing man in dark purple robes as Robin returns a wary smile as well with the two friends having a short pause of relaxation after their battle with the dark man._

"_This isn't over!" the dark man shouted as he lifts himself up to shot one final attack at Chrom as a mass of purple glowing energy in a shape of a large orb erupts from the man's hand, "Damn you BOTH!"_

_Chrom unaware of the man's final attack sprung on him, Robin rushes as quickly as possible to Chrom and shoves him out of the way as the dark purple sphere falls upon him instead._

_A bright flash of light grabs Robin's vision at first before his sight returns to him. Before he noticed that he was laying on the ground, a scorch mark on his chest where the dark sphere at him._

_Chrom dashes to Robin's side worrying about his closest friend's condition, "Are you all right?"_

_Robin gives Chrom a slight nod to let him know he's alright as Chrom slowly lifts Robin up._

"_That's the end of him," Chrom whispers as both he and Robin look to where the man was a moment ago as his body turned to ashes from his final assault leaving a small purple mist where he once stood._

"_Thanks to you we carried the day," Chrom smiles back at Robin with sweating dripping from his face to show it was a long and tiring battle with the man but with Robin's help they finally defeated him._

_Suddenly a strange pulse and sensation came over Robin's senses as he grabs his head in pain._

"_We can rest easy now," Chrom said thinking how peace will soon return to the world, "At long last…"_

_The dark sensation continued on in Robin's mind the feeling pulsing even stronger now and his vision flashing to red. His eyes switching between his normal brown eyes to the glowing red eyes as the pain was becoming unbearable. It was like something entered his soul and is poisoning his body and mind to seize control over it._

_Chrom looks over to Robin as he notices his friend was gritting his teeth in pain and holding his head with his right hand, the hood up hiding his glowing red eyes, "… What's wrong?"_

_Chrom… run… RUN… Robin screamed out to Chrom within his thoughts as he feels an incredible evil desire coming forth from his heart and soul and cannot fight it._

"_Hey, hang on_–," _Chrom started to say to reassure Robin until his expression turned to pain as the sound of something stabbing echoed in the room as Chrom backs away… with a bolt of a lightning spear sticking out of his stomach with the other end sticking out from his back._

_Robin looks down to his right hand to see light trances of his lightning bolt coursing on his palm from activating it. Robin's eyes grew in horror as he realizes HE was the one to STAB Chrom._

_Robin looks back to Chrom with tears filling his eyes as he cannot believe he struck Chrom like that. A person who is his closest friend who has always been a brother to him, as Chrom looks at Robin with a sad smile._

"_This is not your_–," _Chrom painfully said to Robin, "your fault…"_

"_Chrom…," Robin said with a painful expression on his face as Chrom, even after being betrayed like that, holds no ill-will towards him and still considers him as his dearest friend._

"_Promise me you'll escape from this place," Chrom pleaded with Robin hoping his friend will survive, "Please, go…"_

_And Chrom takes his final moments in life as he falls to the ground and lifeless. Robin walks over to Chrom's body and the shock comes over him as he realizes he KILLED Chrom, he killed his best friend, and falls to his knees as he holds Chrom's sacred sword, Falchion, as he breaks down screaming into the air._

_As a cold and malevolent voice is heard in Robin's head laughing in twisted delight over the fact Robin killed Chrom._

"_You are mine now… my perfect…" the icy cold voice whispered in Robin's head as everything goes black._

* * *

Both Chris and Robin suddenly backed away from each other after that strange vision appeared to both of them. As if they were peering into the future together or a dream.

_What was that?_ Both Robin and Chris thought to themselves not sure what just occurred between then just now.

"Are you alright?" Lissa asked with concern, "You stood were looking each other with a weird look in your eyes for a second there and you just freaked out all of a sudden."

"Really? For a second?" Robin shook his head in wonder. It felt longer to him.

"It's OK, just some static shock," Chris cheerfully smiled.

"Static shock?" Lissa eyed him with a weird expression.

"Be that as it may be, but where are you from Chris?" Frederick sternly spoke to the boy in red with a look of suspicious in his eyes, "Obviously you're not from the halidom. What is your purpose being here?"

"Frederick, you do not have to treat everyone with such distrust," Chrom responded to Frederick's stern question in kind, "He did risk his life for the people here. He's already proven his trust to us."

"I will not argue with that point milord, but as I've said before 'twould not do to let a wolf into our flock," Frederick replied in the same stern voice.

Chris ponder a bit, thinking if it's wise to be truthful at the start but realizes it might be a little too far-fetch with his story, "Will you can say I'm traveling a bit and I'm searching for something. But as you can see I'm like a lost little lamb here as I'm not sure where to go."

Chuckling at the end with a goofy smile, "Though my memory is little bit fuzzy on some parts I do know who I am and what I'm doing now even after waking up in the middle of forest with no idea how I got there."

"Two amnesiacs in one day?" Frederick raised his eyebrow as he sighs, "A little too convenient it seems since it's remarkable similar to Robin's explanation."

"I don't have amnesia, just some parts of my memories fuzzy a bit," Chris shrugs.

Chrom simply smiles, "Apparently finding amnesiacs is my specialty it seems and are we not Shepherds Frederick?"

"With all due respect my milord, I advised against recruiting this young man into our fold. He could be a **Plegian** spy for all we know ready to stab us in the back when our backs are turn," Frederick cautious Chrom.

"You must be the life of the party Frederick," Chris replies in a warily sarcastic and deadpanned manner and expression to match.

"Far be it from me to have to have the appropriate level of caution in our group," Frederick states, "I have every wish to your trust, Chris, and you did save the villagers here at your own expense. But my station decrees that look out for the well-being of milord and milady."

"Frederick you did say so yourself that he saved those people and that is BEFORE meeting with us and judging by the way he fought those brigands surely he would've taken us down the moment we talked with him, no?" Chrom smiled at Frederick pointing out his valued reasoning.

Frederick pauses for a while and lets out a deep heavy sigh, "…Touché, milord. As you wish."

"And I believe them both, as odd as their stories might be," Chrom expressed with a serious yet gentle nod.

"I understand your cautious nature Frederick, it's normal for people to have a sense of wary towards newcomers until they know them," Chris nods with an understanding expression.

"Th-Thank you, Chrom," Robin replied stutteringly but thankful nonetheless.

"So how about it? Will you two join us, Robin? Chris?" Chrom asked the two young men wishing to add their strength to their group to protect the people of his land.

"I would be honored," Robin smiled back to Chrom.

_This could coincide with my mission in this world and traveling with them will help me find __**it**__ that's escaped to this realm and I need to protect everyone from __**it**_… Chris thought to himself before answering Chrom's question, "Considered me a part of the team Chrom! Gaining three allies in one day will definitely help your group!"

Everyone paused at first and looked at him strangely.

"T-Three…?" Robin uttered as he only counts him and Chris and wonders if he miscounted.

"What do you mean **three**?" Frederick stated as he narrows his eyes on Chris with suspicious once again.

"I'm quite curious myself. Why did you say three, Chris?" Chrom was confused as well as his face clearly shows it.

Chris chuckles before explaining it to his new friends, "Well you say I have a very dear friend that travels with me all the time and whatever I do my friend follows suits even though he cautious me to be careful at times. Though one might say he's 'away' at the moment but once my friend is back I'll introduce you guys to him."

"You mean… you two separated with each other?" Lissa asked.

"Not exactly, but he always watches out for me and will always come running to my side when I need it. Vi's my best friend, mentor, and brother rolled into one!" Chris smiled cheerfully, "We've been together for quite some time and I would've been here without him."

"Vi?" Chrom studied the name, "Quite… a curious name for someone, but if he's a trusted friend of yours he's an ally of Ylisse and I welcome him when he arrives."

Frederick simply sighs at this and mutters, "It seems my warnings have fallen on deaf ears once again."

After finishing their little recruitment setup the group turns to the rest of the town as all the fire has been put out but felt remorse for not coming sooner to prevent the damages done to the villagers' home.

"Did you notice, milord? The brigands spoke with a **Plegian** accent," Frederick addresses.

"Plegian? You mentioned that twice already, but what's that?" Robin inquires as he doesn't know what Plegian means.

Chrom turns to Robin, "**Plegia** is Ylisse's westerly neighbor. They send small bands into our territory, hoping to instigate a war."

"And it's the poor townsfolk who suffer! Totally innocent, and totally helpless…," Lissa cried a bit.

"They do what?!" Chris interrupts from his carefree posture, his arms behind the back of his head flailing to his sides, as his face scrunches up in angry, "Are you telling me that attack INNOCENT people to provoke a war with you guys? That is absolutely unforgivable! I can't believe anyone would do something so cowardly! What good does war bring anyway? Both lose something no matter what, there's nothing good about it!"

Chris rants as he folds his arms gritting his teeth at the thought of people doing that for fun.

Chrom strangely laughs at this, "Haha, I understand your anger. You remind me of my younger self as… I, too, would get frustrated and furious at such things that I fly off like mad bull."

"Something we have in common then," Chris nods, "But even still I won't kill people. It's against my nature to do so."

"Naive," Frederick spoke up, "Though it's a noble attribute but allowing your enemies alive is ill advised. Compassion is a weakness in this time of war."

"Just how my parents taught me, to never take a life no matter how evil or corrupt someone is," Chris sighs in nostalgic as he quotes his folks' life-impacting quotes, "Life is precious because life is wonderful. You must use yours powers wisely and responsibly and for the right reasons."

Chris looks at Frederick, "And compassion is what separates us from them. I know it's foolhardy, but I believe in second chances and to help others to turn around but I do know there's those that can't be bullied, negotiated, brought, or reason with and do what is necessary. But I will never go against my beliefs no matter how flawed they are."

Chrom smiles at Chris, "You're parents are great folks it seems and their teachings are something to value. I feel safe with you with us Chris and confident that you'll help us end this war as soon as possible."

"Don't forget about Robin as well," Chris smiled.

"Indeed, Robin as well," Chrom smiled back as he looks to his new tactician.

"Nonetheless they do have us; Shepherds to protect the sheep," Frederick firmly says, "Do not be swept up in your anger. It will cloud your judgment."

"I'm aware of that," Chris nervously chuckles about.

"I know, I know," Lissa grumbles knowing that Frederick's quote was directed at her from earlier, "Don't worry. I'll get used to all this."

Just then a group of villagers come towards Chrom and his group with thankful expressions on their faces.

"Milord, please! You must stay the night!" one of the villagers pleaded, "We are simple folk of simple means, but we would gladly toast your valor with a feast!"

"A most generous offer, sir, and no doubt your hospitality would be grand…" Frederick smiles at the villagers.

_How quick to change your tune around simple folk Frederick…_ Chris warily glances at Frederick with this thought in hand.

"But I'm afraid we must hurry back to Ylisstol."

"Dark meat only for me, medium well, and no salt in the soup, I simply–," Lissa started with a tall order before she caught on to what Frederick said earlier, "Wait, what?! We're not staing?! But, Frederick, it's nearly dark! Say something Chris!"

Chris glances at Lissa curiously as he wasn't sure what Lissa came to him for defensive as he shrugs, "I'm alright with roughing it. Besides we should let the townsfolk worry about fixing their homes instead of catering to us."

Lissa grumbles and pouts at Chris' response, "Tsk… well thanks a lot!"

"Well said, Chris," Frederick smiles.

Frederick turns to Lissa, "When night falls, we'll camp. Eat off the land, make our bed of twigs and the like… I believe you mentioned you would be 'getting used to this'?"

Lissa's expression flashed in shock and worry spreads across her face cursing herself mentally for saying that, "Frederick? Sometimes I hate you."

"You've quite the stern lieutenant there," Robin agrees with Lissa.

"Yeah, well, 'stern' is one name for it. I can think of a few others!" Lissa rants.

"Most of them inappropriate I bet," Chris slyly says as Lissa giggles a bit to this.

"Frederick only smiles when he's about to bring down the axe," Chrom joins in with the rest.

"Duly noted," Robin nods in confirm.

"Ooh scary, scary! I better watch out!" Chris giggles.

Frederick clears his throat to let them all know he hears what they're saying, "*Ahem* You do realize I AM still present?"

"Oh, we realize," Chrom smiles at his lieutenant.

"Why else would we say those outloud?" Chris joining in Chrom's little tease.

Both Robin and Lissa laugh at Chrom and Chris' jabs at Frederick.

"Milord remains as amusing as ever," Frederick says not bothered by Chrom's joke and ignoring Chris' jab as well, "Now then, shall we be going?"

"All right, all right," Chrom nods.

"Wait a moment!" someone called out as the group turns to the source of the voice and notices a barkeep and a maiden tagging along as Chris' eyes widen with delight.

"Oh! It's you again! I hope your pub is alright… sorry for the little scuffle there but those guys needed to learn a lesson," Chris approached the barkeep.

"Not at all, I'm just glad you're safe and to thank you for ridding those scum from my pub. We'll let the properly authority take them to prison," the bar owner said, "Though I apologize that you couldn't get your meal and drink as order when they attacked."

"No worries!" Chris smiled letting bygones be bygones.

"And I wanted to thank you for saving me as well," the maiden from earlier that Garrick cornered said as she nodded to the boy in red thankfully.

"It's alright, but your town will take some time to be fix right?" Chris quires them as he pulls something out of his pocket and places it into the bar owner's hand, "These little trinkets shall speed things along and you might even remodel it to have more customers!"

In the bar owner's hand was more of those shining white gems from before, "Th-This is! I can't possibly…"

"Don't worry about it! I'll just find more besides you need it more than me so take it alright," Chris said without giving the bar owner an itch to argue with him as he return to the Shepherds.

"Th-Thank you so much young man! We will never forget this kind act," The bar owner bowed thankfully.

"No probs! You can use the gems from earlier as well," Chris waves back to them.

"Wow! I didn't know you were loaded," Lissa exclaimed with surprise.

"Nah, just some gems I found with my friends in one of the caverns I explored near their homes," Chris smiles, "Sad to say that was the last of them, I'm broke for now."

"Sheesh, was that really wise," Lissa mutters.

"They need it more than me, so yeah."

"Thank you Chris for aiding the people. You truly are a noble and kind man and I'm proud to have you in our group," Chrom encourages Chris' chivalrous act with a smile, "Now then, ready to go, Chris? Robin? The capital isn't far."

Everyone nodded as the set out to the capital of Ylisse.

* * *

"Not that I'm complaining or anything and I am hungry and I know you worked hard to get these," Chris spoke up as he looks at what they have to eat, "But, seriously, who eats _bear_?"

Night has fallen in the forest as the group ventured to the capital having just set up camp for the evening and went foraging for food and came back with meat from a bear they hunted around the campfire.

"You don't like bear meat, Chris?" Chrom asked as he munched on his share.

"Nothing against meat personally, I love meat, but eating bear… is just plain weird to me," Chris snubbed his nose at the food.

Chrom chuckles as he continues to eat, "Mmm… It's been too long since I last had bear meat. Delicious!"

Looking over to his side he notices Lissa hasn't touched her meal yet, "…What's wrong, Lissa? Dig in."

"Pass!" Lissa quickly stated feeling repulsed by the bear meat, "…Gods, couldn't you spear us an animal normal people eat for once? I mean, come on! Chris is right, who eats bear?! You're meddling with the food chain."

"I do feel bad for the bear though…," Chris silently prays for the poor animal they are dining on.

"You're with me, right, Robin?" Lissa turns to Robin to support her case however, "…Uh, Robin?"

Robin is wolfing down the bear meat like there's no tomorrow. Not caring about his table manners or what the others think of him as he was starving all day with the sounds of satisfaction as he goggles up the salty meat.

"*Sigh* I suppose a person would enjoy just about anything after not eating for days…," Lissa sighs as she doesn't want to disturb Robin from enjoying his… um… delicious meal.

"Yo Robin want my share? I'm not going to have it," Chris hands his portion of the bear meat to Robin as he takes it without hesitation.

"Thank you Chris and sorry, but I haven't eaten all day," Robin speaks between his bites as he chews on his food.

"Hahaha! No apologizes necessary you need it more than I do," Chris laughed heartily.

"Just eat it, Lissa. Meat is meat," Chrom encourages Lissa to eat something as it might be awhile before they find another town to stop in before the capital.

"Since when does meat smell like old boots?!" Lissa exclaimed with disgust, "Wait, I take that back–boots smell better!"

"Every experience makes us stronger, milady. Even those we don't enjoy," Frederick spoken up to comfort Lissa.

Lissa gives Frederick a sly and disbelief look, "Really? Then why don't I see YOU eating, Frederick?"

"Me? Oh, well… I'm not hungry. I…I had a large lunch! Yes, quite," Frederick smiles and laughs nervously as everyone around him gave him a mischievous grin.

"Yeah right, Frederick!" Lissa caught Frederick's bluff.

"Well then I'm going to have my **bento box** I've store anyway in case of an event like this," Chris smiles as he reaches from the back of inside of his hoodie sweat-jacket and pulled out a black box and opens it up.

"What the–?" Lissa shoots up after she saw Chris pull something from his back.

"What is that?" Chrom asks as he's never see something like that before or heard of a 'bento box' before.

"My bento box? It's a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common back from where I'm staying at. I have some **Onigiri** in it, called Rice Balls if that helps, white rice, fried shrimp, cooked vegetables, and some beef in it," Chris explained as he pulls out a long stick from the box and splits it into two as starts eating with it.

"Interesting cuisine you here there Chris," Fredericks raises his brow at the odd food in his little box, "Pray tell what are you using to… eat with?"

"Chop sticks!"

"Chop sticks?" Lissa interjected dumbfoundedly.

"Yup, this is how they eat their food where they make these bento boxes," Chris said as he licks his lips in excited to munch down on some of his favorite eastern food, "Here, I have a couple of more on me."

Chris pulls out two more black bento boxes from inside his jacket and hands it over to Lissa and Frederick, "Even if you ate a big lunch you still need to keep your strength up."

"Uh… thank you," Frederick said a little bewildered but keep a suspiciously glance on Chris on the whole time, "And you are right about keeping our strength up. For the time being I shall accept your generous offer."

"Finally! Something NORMAL people eat," Lissa smiled happily as she receives her new meal.

Both Chrom and Robin lean to their sides to examine Chris' back and look back each other.

"Where did he have those hidden? Is the inside of his coat that vast?" Chrom riddled Robin that question as he couldn't figure it out.

"I'm not sure and he had three? They're quite big though. How did he keep those boxes hidden until now?" Robin questions this odd transition with a puzzling look.

"By the by, I wanted to discuss something with everyone here," Chris started to speak up and this time with a serious look.

"Hmm, what is it?" Chrom asked noting the strange change from the boy's happy-go-lucky demeanor to his serious side as everyone looks at Chris as well.

"I'm going to tell you one of my main reasons why I'm traveling here," Chris stated as he pulls out a white piece of paper with something drawn on it, "I'm hunting a creature, a creature called 'Ender', and it has this symbol on its torso area."

On the piece of paper the drawing was quite strange. It had a small circle above a long line with the beginning a square but with the edge down with the lines curved going in and out and the line was two of these squares, a normal sized one for the top one and the bottom half stretched out. On the sides of this line with matching mirror images of had the letter T but curved in crow's feet.

In the corners of the T-shaped mark, for the right side mark a diamond shape mark points away from it and likewise for the left side as well in mirror image. The marking's colors seem to be almost white or silver in nature.

"A creature with a symbol like this?" Robin ponders as he looks over the image on the sheet, "Interesting, I've never something like this before."

"You're hunting this creature in Ylisse?" Chrom speaks as he carefully thinks the situation, "Perhaps we could provide some assistance and help you track down this beast."

"No," Chris flatly said.

Taking back from his sudden response Chrom speaks up again, "No? Is there a problem with us helping you find this thing?"

"I'm afraid there is… you're no match for it," Chris explains to Chrom.

"That sounds like a load of pegasus dung, we are to believe you don't need any help with this supposed creature you're telling us?" Frederick sternly voices out with a bit of edge regarding Chris' tone with Chrom.

"It's not a matter of how strong you are, it's just they have no experience fighting against an ECHO Monster," Chris calmly replies back.

"ECHO Monster? That's a weird name to them this 'Ender' creature," Lissa tilts her head in confusion.

"ECHO Ender is its full name and this creature has glowing yellow eyes and a black-colored body with that symbol on its chest," Chris explains a bit of what the creature looks like to the party.

"Fascinating, can you tell us more about what this creature looks like so we can be prepared for it?" Chrom asked. Even if Chris asked him not to engage it in a fight if this Ender endangers the lives of his people he will rise up against it.

Chris lets out a soft chuckle, "Well it's actually quite difficult to describe it fully to you as it's a creature you could have ever imagined to exist in this world or any world. I will say this beast is humanoid in appearance but not human at all. With metal-like wings on its back that spews out fire when it flies and it's just as intellect as a human or even more so."

Everyone looks at Chris curiously.

"Eh… that is a very odd description," Robin massages his chin as he ponders over the facts, "But at least we know it's something we've never seen before and that we'll know it when we see it, correct?"

"Indeed, but like I said… avoid fighting it at all cost. It's something you don't want to ever fight unless you know its tricks and how to fight like it like I've learned to do," Chris finishes his piece as he returns to his normal demeanor.

"We'll be sure to look out for it," Chrom nods respectfully as he returns to his meal.

Frederick studies Chris a bit more wondering if he's telling the truth or telling a ghost story. There is something he is not telling them and Frederick makes a mental note to keep a close eye on him.

Eventually they hurry to bed after a while from their dinner and idle chat and slept peacefully. All excepted for Chris as he got up and looked around his settings

"…Huh?" Chrom stirs up as he notices Chris leaving the campsite looking around with a serious look on his face.

"*Yawn* What's wrong, Big Brother?" Ylissa yawns awake as Chrom accidentally woke up his little sister from her slumber.

"Sorry," Chrom apologized to Lissa as he helps her up, "I didn't mean to wake you, but… Something is amiss… and it seems like Chris knows it, too."

"Chris?" Lissa perks up as she looks over to see that Chris is missing from the group, "And define 'something'."

"I'm not sure… I think Chris might have a better idea so I'm going to help him have a look around," Chrom answers Lissa as he heads of towards Chris' direction.

"Not alone, you won't! I'm coming too," Lissa insisted as she tags along with Chrom.

Chrom smiles at his little sister, "Heh. Thanks, Lissa."

Chris stops in the middle of an open clearing in the forest as he looks around. A sense of caution and danger feeling the air around him, "This isn't good…"

"Is there something wrong, Chris?" Chrom calls out to the boy in red as he turns around to see Chrom and Lissa walk up to him.

"Oh, Chrom," Chris nonchalantly replies back to Chrom and Lissa with a smile, "I take it you felt something weird too?"

"Indeed I have," Chrom confirms.

"What do you mean?" Lissa asks with a puzzled look.

"It's far too quiet don't you agree?" Chris questions them, "I mean this is forest so how come the woodland critters aren't making a single noise?"

"Huh? You're right, it sure is dark… and quiet," Lissa looks around cautiously, "Where did the birds go?"

"Something is wrong here… let's go back to camp and get every–," Chrom suggested before the ground sudden quaked beneath their feet.

"Aaah! Chrom" Lissa cries out to her brother as she latches onto his arm.

"Gods, what–," Chrom tries to hold his ground as the shaking worsens each time, "Arh! What is this madness?! Lissa, stay close!"

"This energy signature…? This is…!" Chris mutters under his breath as he looks up towards the sky with a worried and serious look in his expression.

The land is robbed of its trees as they are being tore and blow from its roots into the air as the destruction comes chasing after where Chrom, Chris, and Lissa were standing as fireballs shot up from the earth below burning everything in its path.

"Lissa, run," Chrom tells his sister.

"Huh?" Lissa could only reply back, fear and concern dancing in her eyes, as she wonders what her brother will do.

"I mean it, go!" Chrom tells her as he props Lissa to leave, "Chris! Please protect Lissa for me!"

"I got it!" Chris shouts back to Chrom as he hurries to Lissa's side as they run away from the force of destruction coming their way.

The earth splits in two as one mass of land rises up towards the sky as magma erupts from beneath shooting more fire balls in all direction. Chris and Lissa dodge the incoming flames flying past them as they run deeper into the forest.

"Hey! This way!" Chrom calls out to them as he runs alongside them and leads them away from the burning rising land.

The heat for the fire burning the forest and air suffocates them as the smell of smog enters their lungs making it harder for them to breathe and sweating from the blazing red atmosphere as they continue to escape the roaring calamity.

The forest is painted red and the sky tainted with black colors as the three Shepherds finally found a small safe patch to rest from the chaos they were in a few moments ago.

Chris suddenly looks up to the sky once again and growls.

Lissa pants in place until she looks up and points in horror, "Chrom, what IS that?!"

Chrom turns to where Lissa was pointing to and gasps in shock. White lights gather to a center spot in the sky and the accumulating light forged itself into a mass black circle with strange yellow outlines around it with lines and symbols around it like a clock. And in the center of the black circle a blue greenish eye opens up and looks upon the land below.

"I knew it! This is time space partial energy fusion… a break in the continuum shift?!" Chris whispers to himself as he looks on in angry as he feels an evil presence from the vortex before them.

Strange zombified creatures clanged in armor exit out of the vortex and fall to the earth below, armed to the teeth with weapons as they scourge the land for prey. Not only was it the forest they appeared in but they group noticed several other portals opening up across the distance in the skies and they know more of these creatures have appeared throughout the land.

Chrom draws his sword, Falchion, as the zombie creature grew closer to them, "Lissa. You'd better stand back."

The creature's beady red eyes glow in anticipation as they moved closer onto Chrom. Foul-smelling black breath coming out of their mouth as they roared and the smell of rotting meat taints the air as the zombies charged in and attack Chrom with bestial instincts. The creature jumps into the air and slashes downward with brute strength with its axe but Chrom steps to the side and cuts the creature in half.

Chrom gasps as he realizes his cut didn't work on it as the zombie completely shifted its head around with its head facing forward from the back which is impossible and unnatural for any living creature to do.

Chrom blocks the incoming attack with his sword as the zombie counterattacks as Chrom holds his ground against the zombie until he parries it upwards and slashes at the zombie's torso and kicks it away. The blue-haired swordsman leaps into the air and thrust the sword downward into the zombie's back as it howls in pain and dispersed into a black mist leaving no trace of it behind.

Chris pressed on against the zombies that were aiming for Lissa as the two moved a little away from Chrom as he didn't have to worry Lissa and close enough to aid him in case he were caught in a tight spot by these strange new enemies. Chris clicks his tongue in annoyance as the palm strike isn't doing as much damage as he had hoped but if he releases too much of his **Ki** energy with Lissa around she might not be able to withstand the pressure.

***Heartbeat***

Chris feels a powerful pulse as the feeling of insecurity takes a hold of him as it echoes throughout his body and turns his attention to the hills on top of the burning forest. His eyes narrowed with angry concern as he continues to stare in the same spot. He hopes he is wrong about this feeling and how badly timed it was to this event before him but given his earlier circumstance before meeting with Chrom and the others.

_Don't tell me… this close!?_

"AHHH!"

A scream cried at in the distance when Chrom just finished off the zombie to see his little sister being corner by several zombies as Chris is fighting off a few of them that separated him from Lissa.

"Lissa!" Chrom calls out as he tries to hurry to his sister side.

"Don't you freakin' dare!" Chris shouted as he punched through the zombie's chest and faded into black mist as he leaps into the air to cover great distance to get to Lissa's side and stops the zombie's axe be catching it with his palms and holding it in place.

_Damn… I got distracted by that ominous __**familiar**__ energy!_ Chris curses to himself as during the fight he felt something very familiar to him that made him stop in his tracks to make sure it wasn't his imagination otherwise he would have easily destroyed all of the zombies in a heartbeat.

Just as Chris was holding one of the zombies down another one raises its axe over Lissa's head.

As Lissa's was about to be cut down another figure exits out of the glowing eye from the vortex above and jumps in front of Lissa as the figure draws out a sword and blocks the axe with their backs turned and the sword stopping the axe in place.

Chrom gasps in place as he didn't expect the arrival of this strange figure and Lissa opens her eyes as the fatal blow to end her life hadn't come and notices the figure before her.

"Argh!" the zombie cried out as Chris broke the axe in half with his hands and kicked the zombie's head off with a powerful and fast roundhouse kick. Glaring at the other zombie the strange figure stopped Chris shattered through the zombie's side as it fade to mist.

Chris took a look at the blue-haired figure before him, dressed in a blue tunic along with a long black cape, boots, a belt, head ornament that looked like a tiara band, gauntlets, and a strange mask hiding the person's face. But the thing that stood out most to him was the **sword** this person was using as it looks almost like an exact copy of Chrom's sword.

"Thanks for saving Lissa, I let myself get distracted there for a second," Chris thanked the stranger as the mysterious person looked at him with a fixed stare. Even though Chris couldn't see the person's eyes he could tell this person was studying him and didn't know what to make of him.

"… your welcome," the masked stranger replied in a rather tentative manner even in a whisper-like tone to cover the mask the person's gender as the stranger could be male or female but Chris knew right away what kind of person this masked hero is.

Lissa lets out a sigh of relief as the zombies around here have dispersed as Chris swept most of them away and lost track of her for a moment resulting in her previous situation.

"That was quite an entrance," Chrom looked at the stranger with a serious gaze then smiled at the person before him, "What's your name?"

Before the masked man could answer Chrom's question the sounds of galloping and a pair of panting footsteps snaps Chrom's attention away for a second as he spots a familiar pair coming towards his way into the burning forest.

"Milord! Milady! Are you hurt?" Frederick pothered as he rushes to his lord's aid on his trusty steed with their tactician right behind him.

"Frederick! Robin!" Lissa vociferously runs over behind Frederick and Robin.

Stalking through the burning forest more of the zomibifed soldiers as they were fast approaching the small group as the finally regrouped together.

"Are such horrific creatures commonplace in these lands?" Robin elucidated as the savage beasts crept closer to them.

"They're not from Ylisse, I promise you that," Chrom reassured Robin as he drew his blade at the zombie soldiers ready to cut them down at any time and protect his comrades.

"Unless mysterious vortex opening up in thin air counts, this spells out problems for Ylisse and its best to sew these beasties," Chris zealously smiles as he punches his fist into the palm of his hand.

"Mysterious vortex?" Robin inquired as his brow furrows at that comment.

"We'll discuss this later. First of all no one is injured, then?" Frederick strenuously spoke up as he looks around to everyone to examining their conditions and sighs in relief. "Thank the gods…"

"Thank the masked man who saved me!" Lissa chirped happily as she turns to the masked man, "If it wasn't for him, I'd be…"

Only to find that he wasn't there anymore. "Hey, where did he go?"

"We can worry about him later, AFTER we put these… things…. to the blade," Frederick deliberately with a witty comment, but failed, to change the topic of their conversation to more pressing matters. "Eyes open, now. We know nothing about this enemy."

Chrom and Robin nods in agreement as they get into position.

"Well if we're going to do this, might as well stop holding back!" Chris passionately said as he stretched out his arms from his sides, "WEAPON SHIFT!"

The Ying & Yang pendant around Chris' neck started to give out a strange blue glow that outline around the lines of the pendant as if the object was alive and a strange energy was giving off from it with clicking sounds unclogging and reconnecting themselves.

The black half of the pendant broke off in the same phantasm light as it circles around Chris' right hand as a handle of a blade appeared as Chris grabbed it. The blue light thinning themselves out into different shapes of neon squares as they stacked together to form the rest of the sword becoming a black sword with strange runes on it fading for a brief moment and the blade gave off a white aura outline around it.

The same thing happened for his left hand except the color of the blade was white from the white half. The guard of the sword was strange as well as the blades with the guards forming a handle one side, like brass knuckles-like weapon, and the blades were identical but long but shorter than a broadsword yet thinner than knight's sword.

Everyone in the group stood in awe that the strange phenomenon before them.

"D-Did his pendant turn into a pair of twin swords!?" Robin nearly did a double take and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing this right.

"What manner of sorcery is this?" Frederick was beside himself as he couldn't make heads or tails to how such a thing was possible.

"Wow! I didn't know he could do that! That is so cool!" Lissa hopped in awe as the marvelous sight as she's never seen anything like it.

"It seems you're full of surprises Chris," Chrom remarked after seeing the transformation of his pendant to swords a mere moment ago, "That is truly an unmatched scene to behold one could scarcely imagine, but I'm afraid that will have to wait until we've taken care of our _guests_."

Twirling his blades away to the side in a circular motion and resting the black sword on his shoulder and keeping his white sword to his side pointing slightly against the ground Chris smirks as he points his white sword at the zombies.

"Time to bring the carnage!"

"Hmm? Are those…" Robin nodded at a couple of slightly broken down stone buildings next to their location.

"Abandoned forts, yes," Frederick finished Robin's sentence as he's aware of Robin sudden swift of attention to the layout around them.

"Then we should take shelter in them whenever possible," Robin rubs his chin in thought, "No doubt they will offer distinct advantages in battle."

"Got an idea storming in your head Robin?" Chris chimed in with a very cheeky demeanor.

The young tactician smiles in respond ass his eyes light up with fires in them, "Indeed… everyone I want you to listen to my instructions carefully."

Chrom nods in agreement with a faint smile on his face as Lissa clutches her stave closely as she listens in with a serious expression.

"Frederick, I need you station to the side of the fort to provide cover for our defenses," Robin explained to the shining knight in armor, "With your steed you'll be able to quickly react to any incoming enemies swiftly and strike them down with your lance allowing you to cover our blind spot and with your steel mail be able to withstand more attacks from the enemies better than the right of us."

"Chrom, I need you out in front of the fort. Your exemplary swordsmanship skills will serve best defending the fronts for any of those… creatures… breaking passed Frederick's defenses and quickly cut them down. Lissa will be station in the rear as she uses her healing staves to heal everyone who gets injured during the siege."

"Chris," Robin turns his attention to the red hooded jacket boy as he closes his eyes and smiles back as he turns to face the enemies as Robin cracks a smug smile too, "I need you to further out in front than Chrom and Frederick to wear out as many of the creatures with your fighting skills and pull back when you think you can't handle anymore as…"

"You'll provide aerial support with your magic from the fort to assault any enemies that attack out blind spots or we're unable to counterattack in time as your magic is long-range and the creatures out there are mostly melee types," Chris answered Robin's sentence as he walks out into the battlefield with his dual swords in his hands, "And allow safe passage back to the fort for Chrom and Frederick is they sustain too much damage and Lissa can heal them, am I right?"

Robin smirks at this as he nods, "Indeed. I'm glad we're on the same page here my friend."

Chris smiles back cheerily as Lissa and Chrom let out a small chuckle. Even Frederick couldn't help by smile a bit before turning his undivided attention on the enemies before them.

"It is almost scary how intelligent you both are with your planning and tactics," Chrom states as he readies his sword and takes his position on the battlefield, "I'm counting on you all and one more thing; don't die everyone! That's an order!"

Everyone spreads out at Robin's orders and ready themselves as the zombie creatures come rushing in with blood-curding shrieks with their arms in air. Chris merely scoffs at this as he holds his swords at front, in reverse grip, with his arms crosses in an X formation as he waits patiently for the creatures to draw closer to him as the others rush in on Chrom and Frederick's side.

As one of the axemen monster swung its weapon over its head, with a slight gleam in his eyes, Chris quick stepped forward to slashed at blinding speed with his twin swords cleaving the zombie before in an X-cut and spun around to cut downward across the next zombie's abdomen, cutting through its armor easily, and hurl one of his swords into the air as he spins his body around in a cartwheel motion as the zombies' bodies disappear in a matter of seconds of the attacks.

Kicking one of the zombies in the face, Chris used it as a spring to hurl himself into the air and as his other sword came twirling back down to him he caught the blade with his right foot instead of his hand, thanks to the unique take on his sword's guard halt, spun himself around breaking through the next zombie in his path as his uses the momentum to increase his speed and power and spun himself into an unorthodox style like a ball with swords spinning it as he chops one zombie after another and tosses his other sword into the air briefly and grabs it with his mouth as he darts passed another armor-clad zombie and cutting through its stomach as it disperses away.

Using the momentum of his attack and planting his foot to the ground as a pivot to make a 90 degree turn and launched himself at an angle with ludicrous speed slashing away at the zombies as his cuts either blow their parts away or be blown into the air as they disperse as he continues destroying one zombie after another in quick session with excitement in his eyes as he smiles to himself enjoying the smack down he's laying down on the beasts.

Chrom hacks through another one of the zombified foes sending it to the ground with the three behind him fall to their knees which the blue-haired swordsman dealt with earlier and he twirls his sword and swirls himself around to face the next set of foes, which didn't seem to exist as a certain young man took care a good portion of them.

Chrom blinked more than two as he watched the boy in red lead a path of carnage of the creatures and couldn't contain his bewilderment with the expression on his face as he's never seen anyway fight like this way before.

Frederick's trusted steed back kicks one of the zombies which sent it flying into the tree headfirst and skewed one of the zombie's through their chest with his lance and then hacked three more sets of the creatures before turning around and to see attention elsewhere where he sees zombies sailing through the air with Lissa casting her stave to heal his minor wounds he got from the beasts that chipped at him earlier in the fight.

Robin opens up his tome to cast his lightning spell that ran down onto the zombies coming up on Chrom's flank and directed more of his shots to the other zombies attacking from his friends' blindside. After incapicated the last of the incoming beasts with his lightning spell he turns to see where the flying zombies were coming from and to his subtle look of surprise on his face to see their second mysterious newcomer using one of the most bizarre fighting swordsman styles he has ever seen before or could remember.

"By the gods, what kind of fighting style is that?" Chrom mouthed off as he could keep up with Chris' speed and movement with his eyes and asking himself if this was even real.

"Is… is he even human?" Robin couldn't help but speak his mind and trying to coop with the reality of how that is humanely possible to move that fast and use such a strange way to fight. Who ever heard of someone wielding swords with their _feet_?

Frederick couldn't think of a single word to comment at Chris' hectic battling while staring at him with an astonished glare but at this moment in the back of his head, he is quite glad that Chris is on THEIR side… for the moment.

Lissa stands there gaping with her mouth wide open until she broke into a smile with sparkles in her eyes as she squeals like a fan girl, "That's just unbelievable amazing! How did he learn to do that? He's like some hero straight out of a legend!"

"I am inclined to agree with that, Lissa, and I can see why he didn't use this style before when protecting you earlier," Chrom replied as he takes out his sword and cuts down another zombie coming at him from the side.

"What do you mean?"

"If he used such a bizarre and unpredictable style near you, you might possibly gotten caught in one of his attacks seeing as he's quite the distance away from us," Chrom explained, "And some of those flying zombies are hitting quite close to our location."

"Chrom, watch out!" Robin calls out as one of the monsters who is a bowman readies its bow at Chrom from the side as the blue-haired man quickly turns to his side at the alert from his tactician friend to dodge the incoming arrow… but it didn't happen.

Suddenly the zombie was trampled on by another steed that came charging in from its side as it disperse into nothingness. A young woman is seen riding onto on her mounted horse and clad in red armor and has short spiky red hair, given a tomboyish air about her, and tone and sculptured muscles befitting for a female warrior.

"Captain Chrom! Wait!" the woman shouted after finishing off one of the zombies, "I'm coming!" She clicks her tongue in annoyance and mental scolds herself, "…Agh, I knew I shouldn'ta left 'em."

Turning her attention to the rest of the zombies in the opposite direction she glares at them with fiery intensity, but with an excited gleam in her eyes and she gives off a smug look, "All right, you ash-faced freaks! Which one of ya wants to try my lance on for size first? I know just the spot for it: shoved right up your–"

"Hold, milady!" a voice calls out from the rear.

Dashing after the red-haired woman, ever so elegantly one might add, a light blue-haired man dressed in gaudy attire one befitting a noble of high standards but with great modest hails to the woman he has been following recently.

"Muh?"

"Life may be long, but attraction is fleeting! Would you leave me in your sweet dust?" the strange noble man spoke in sweet cooing tongue, "Leave war to the warriors, dear bird! A beauty such as you need wage only love."

The woman looked at the man look she digested something foul and unpleasant, "…The hell are you?!"

The man smirk, pleased that she has taken noticed of him despite the crude answer he received, "Ha! Is the lady intrigued? Of course you are–it's only natural."

"I am myth and legend! I am he who strides large across history's greatest stage!" the man reacted with dramatic poses and exaggerated as if reciting a play, "The man who puts the 'arch' in 'archer'! My name, dear lady, is Vi–"

"Sorry, Ruffles–no time for this," the woman rudely interrupted the man as she proceeds to charge forward, with the zombies standing dumb-founded by the whole ordeal before them and just quietly wait until it's over, "Onward!"

"Virion!" the man tried to finish saying before the warrior lady nearly left in a hurry, "…Er, my name. It's Virion. W-wait! Where are you going? Pray, at least tell me your name!"

"I'm Sully," the woman turned her head to answer the man following her, "…And I'm a Shepherd."

"'Sully'!" Virion positively smiled with requisite, "How divine! A starkly beautiful name, as befits its owner, truly."

The next thing that came out of his mouth scattered reality all around them that even Frederick couldn't possibly prepare for it.

"Will you marry me, my dearest Sully?"

"Will I what now?" Sully stopped in her tracks and turned her full attention on Virion the archer with a look of astonishment and 'did someone drop on your head' look.

"Oh wait, I get it…" Sully started to finally process what Virion told her and smiled of the most wickest of smiles, "This is a joke. And when I put my boot through your face–that's the punch line."

Completely unfazed by Sully 'jokingly' threat Virion continue to woo her, "I realize my manly figure and noble bearing can be overwhelming. 'Tis common! So please, don't feel pressured to answer right a–"

"How's THIS for an answer?!"

Suddenly, and without warning and off her horse, Sully roundhouse kicks Virion on the side of his head sending him rolling away leaving a trail of dust behind each bump on the road he took until he slowly slide to a halt. Everyone watching the scene, including the zombies, had a sweatdrop behind their heads and stood there staring with disbelieve.

Slowing getting up and rubbing the side of his head where the bandaged bump was and seeing stars as a realize Virion groaned in pain, "OOF! G-goodness, but those shapely legs certainly kick, can't they…"

Getting back up Virion tried to regain his composure and basically pleaded with her, "P-please, milady! Allow me to accompany you, at least! Mine is a cold, empty world without you. I shall be your most willing servant, and you, in turn, will give my life purpose…"

"I have to give him some credit… he's persistent at least," Robin uttered under his breath as he continues to watch the strange scene unfolded between the two newcomers.

"Yeah… hey, wait?" Lissa suddenly chimed in, "Virion… Vi? Oh! Chris is _this_ your friend you were talking about? The whimsical fellow that always messes around?"

Chris kicks one of the zombie's in the face as he does a backflip sailing through the air until he was in front of Chrom, Frederick, and Lissa and frowns at the last member of the group, "Him? No! That's **not** Vi! Trust me, you'll know him when you see him… he's one of kind you can say and not someone you see every day."

"*Sigh* Fine…," Sully finally caved in but only to, hopefully, get him to finally shut his trap, "Anything to shut you up."

Virion suddenly glows with delight as he beams with the utmost confidence in his eyes and stature which was causing Sully a little discomforted as she looks at him with concern and possibly regretting her decision so soon, "…What? Stop staring at me like that!"

"Ooook… time for a change in tactics, Chrom?" Robin sweated a bit before turning his full attention back on the battlefield where the monsters they have been fighting snapping back to their regular behavior.

Chrom nods in agreement and calls out to his fellow Shepherd and newly acquired company, "Sully! Virion! We will continue on advancements on the enemy so listen to our tactician, Robin, here and prepare to finish these fiends off!"

"Understood sir!"

"Gladly, I shall show you all why I am the archer of archers," Virion smiled smugly as he ready his bow from his back.

"Alright, Virion I want you station on the second fort that closer to you and provide cover fire for Sully and Chris who will be station in the middle of the battlefield. I'll continue to support from the fort here with my magic and Frederick and Chrom I need you to defend the fort and fend off the creatures in the frontlines," Robin ordered the Shepherds to take their positions, "And Lissa continue to heal us in the back and do not engage with the enemies. If there's trouble call for either Virion or myself to provide cover fire for you."

Everyone agreed to the plan and hurried to their positions on the field, though Chris occasionally looked out deeper into the woods looking for something with a worried and serious expression on his face that Robin couldn't help but notice.

As the beasts come charging in, the sound of roll and thunder as they march through the burning forest each sound growing in fury with each passing step they took, arrows and lightning strike down upon them weeding out their numbers and now just a small portion remains from the almost large army they were before.

Sully's steed kicks one of the zombies in the face that had drew upon them and took out her lance as she knocked out of their heads with Chris spinning around by her side and taking out two more zombies then she did with a confident smiled on his face.

"You got to do better than that lady warrior! I got two more than you did!" Chris gloated for fun as he jumps over Sully with amazing ability that no ordinary human could pull to kick one of the zombies in the face coming up on Sully's side as she sweep another at her.

"Ha, is that a challenge? I'll show you how it's really did kiddo!" Sully replied back with a smug look of her own and enticing the playful little challenge from the newcomer of the Shepherds as she skewers another one of her foes to best the little speed demon.

"You better keep up then!"

Chrom and Frederick soon came upon what looked like the chief of the beasts they were fighting with its wild hair and strange looking mask donning its face the creature bellowed as he wield an axe with immense strength and fury as both knights jump out of its way for it to get a face full of lighting conjured by their resident tactician.

Not letting the creature get a chance to counter attack both Chrom and Frederick timed their attacks and cross slashed the beast while it was blinded earlier, leaving an X-shape cut on its chest, before the beast slows down and finally collapses.

Taking a moment to breathe the Shepherds regrouped with one another after finally slaying the last of the strange zombie-like beasts that came from the sky and attacked them.

"Well that settles that," Chris said as his swords glow in their represent light and shrink to revert back to their pendant form which took Sully and Virion by surprise.

"That is possibly one of the most strangest thing I have seen from you yet, Chris," Robin couldn't contain his curiosity anymore after seeing how his pendant transformed into a pair of swords and then back.

"Seriously! How did you get your pendant to do that?" Lissa was very eager to know with her little jumps of anticipation.

"Sooorrry~! It's a secret… and Vi wouldn't be happy if I explained that without his permission. He was the one he granted my pendant to do that since originally it was a normal family heirloom, but that's all I'm tell about it," Chris smiled playfully as he places his arms behind the back of his head and swings back and forth innocently.

"Intriguing… I would like to meet this so-called 'Vi' and ask him about it," Frederick spoke with a slight edge in his tone. Still doesn't truly trust Chris no doubt, but no one can argue that he was indeed a strange individual and that he did help protect both Chrom and Lissa from those beasts.

Chris just chuckles, not a care in the world, but he looks away for a moment with his eyes readying on the trees far away. Something is truly bugging him that Robin wishes to know about and see if he can help him with the matter.

"It seems all the creatures are vanquished," Frederick spoke up as a pair of footsteps approaches them from the front as everyone turns to greet their guest, "This young man took care of the others."

The masked man remains silently though even with the mask on, that kinda looked like a butterfly in a way upon closer inspection, looked from one person to the next studying them it seems but took a little longer looking at Robin which the tactician noticed and was curious about that until the masked man turned his attention onto Chrom.

"Um, I never got to thank you… for before. So… thank you. You were very brave," Lissa bashfully thanked with a little bow as she wasn't exactly sure how to thank the stranger for coming in to save her in her dire moment.

Chrom approaches the man with a hand stretched out, "You saved my sister's life, for that you have my thanks as well. My name is Chrom. Might I ask yours?"

"You may call me Marth," the masked man quickly said, though shyly looked away for a brief moment which both Chris and Robin picked up on.

"Marth?" Chrom had a look of surprise on his face upon hearing that name, "After the heroic king of old? You certainly fight like a hero. Where did you learn your way with a sword?"

"I'm not here to talk about me," the masked man called Marth shot back in a calm manner.

"Quite the modest hero," Chris smiled which earned him a cold stare from Marth who didn't seem to like him one bit… or more like more distrusting of him more so than Frederick. There was something about him that the masked man couldn't shake off and made a mental note to keep a close eye on this one.

"Something wrong?" Chris asked Marth as the masked man was staring at him intently.

"You have… unusual clothing," Marth lied about his true intent but Chris didn't seem to mind and knows that's not what was bugging the masked stranger.

"Indeed I do! But I like to say thanks as well… I shouldn't have taken my eyes off of Lissa like I did back there," Chris replied with a sincere and regrettable tone in his voice as he really was beating himself up over it.

"It's not your fault, you probably saw more of the beasts elsewhere and you wanted to make sure they didn't surround you I bet," Robin chimed in to ease his friend worry.

"Thanks, Robin!" Chris smiled at him as he throws an arm around Robin's neck, "Though it was thanks to your radical tactical skills he made it through the day, don't you agree Marth?"

"Um…" Marth wasn't sure what to say as he was now looking at Robin strangely a look of nostalgia which Chris could pick up on and Robin noticing the subtle change in Marth's demeanor which the others didn't pick up on.

"Uh, thank you Chris," Robin nervously replied back. _Radical? What does that mean?_

"This world teeters at the brink of a horrible calamity," Marth continued to say ignoring Chris, "What you saw tonight was but a prelude. You have been warned."

"Calamity?" Chris whispered under his breath with his eyes looking to the ground in concern as he recalls something… a piece of his hazy memory coming back to him.

"Huh? What's teetering where now?" Lissa spoke up just as the masked man left them, "Hey, wait!"

"Not much for conversation, is he?" Robin voiced his thoughts.

"It appears his skills lie elsewhere. I wager we'll hear his name again…," Frederick spoke up getting everyone's attention, "But for now I'm more concerned about the capital. We should make haste."

Chrom nods his head as he commands everyone to ready their things and make their own out of the forest and head to the capital post-haste with Chris making one more final look at the top of the hills of the burning forest with his eyes narrowing aggressively. The reason why he is here, it's almost back to him… the two more important things he has to do in this world he's fallen into and they are…

As the Marth walks away from the party, the thoughts of this mysterious individual focus on one particular member of the party… the boy in red. The masked stranger cannot help but worry and feel threaten and suspicious about this strange attire wearing warrior as history as never mentioned this individual from the masker savior hails from.

No history, no acknowledgement, no evidence of this boy's existence but the masked stranger cannot help but feels as though… this boy should not exist at all. No. That this boy never existed at all or…

_Someone who has no right to be mention or acknowledged again by anyone any more, after what that person did to Chrom… especially as their __**closest friend**__._

Those words echoed in the stranger's head as the masked stranger focused on the boy in red one more time with their teeth gritting and hands shaking in angry as Chrom's group vanished from sight.

_Could it be him? Could he be the one?,_ the masked stranger thought as the rage and fury burns hotter inside their breast, _Is he the one, the one that shouldn't exist, that brings __**the world to ruins in the future**__?_

In the cold distance away from the group hidden in the fieriest spot of the burning forest in the mountains a pair of glowing yellow eyes glared at the party particular a certain boy in red as the dark creature growls with excited anticipation at their coming rematch in the future.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hey there! This is my first Fire Emblem fanfic as Fire Emblem: Awakening is my first Fire Emblem game ever and I fall in love with it! And I've seen some people make attempts at their own version of the story with their fanfic and sometimes added their own OC or self-insert to interact with the cast instead of Robin.

With Robin I was undecided to have Robin be male or female in my story as I was entertaining the idea of my semi-self insert OC getting romantic involved with a female Robin, but decided to go with the male one as I like to be bros first and I like the Robin/Lucina pairing. So I might do a female version later on.

This is what My Unit/Avatar/Robin looks like my story if you need a better idea:

**Build:** 1

**Face:** 4

**Hair:** 5

**Hair Color:** 9

**Voice:** Male 1

Though I've been tempted to do a Robin/Cordelia pairing instead as I like this pairing a lot myself and it parallels well if Chrom marries Sumia as both Chrom and Robin marry Pegasus Knights and their first-born daughters, Lucina and Severa, are quite serious and vocal about their parents and both of them have flighty sisters, Cynthia and Morgan. Perhaps in another story…

Sorry for taking SO long with getting this chapter out but I got a new job and it's been taking a LOT of my free time more so than my old job which was one of the reasons I couldn't get this chapter out in a timely fashion. Also I'm not used to writing tactics a lot so I hope I did a good job with Robin with this tactics playing out in this chapter that is more logical in this situation and based off the game map. I couldn't split this into two chapters by this but I planned to combine the first two parts of the game into one chapter… I didn't think it would be this long!

One of the things I'm tossing in my head to add in for my Protagonist here, Chris Corona, is he is from one of my stories and if I do go that route I plan to have two cameo characters from that series he Is originally from and have a nice little reunion but I'm thinking about vaguely referencing them instead. Nothing's set in stone yet for this one little fun detail for my story here so I might just keep on as one of his alternate universe version of Chris Corona.

Another thing to note is I have no plans to kill any of the characters in this story, the heroes of course, as this was my first Fire Emblem game and I went with the Casual Mode as I didn't want to lose them and I've grown to love them and their support conversations but that doesn't mean they will come out unscathed in battle, but this might be subjugated to change in the future. Though my writing muse was on and off with this so I didn't really show off battle damage yet.

Last note is I have a few surprises in store for you as some events from the game will change in this story and possibly a few things alternated as well as I mistaken the church from the game as a pub so I'm decided to have the pub next to it and I might have the Shepherds spilt up to cover more of the Paralogue stories and there will be chapter dedicated to the characters bonding and talking with each other as I want to expanded upon them so more.

I look forward to your continued support for this story and the next chapter will be shorter than this one and so I hope you enjoy my Fire Emblem story here. I'm going to be really busy lately as I will be playing FFXIV: ARR, Tales of Xillia, and Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX and many more new games to come in the following weeks.

But really I need to stop making this super lengthy chapters, it kinda burns me out even though I want as much details and story into my chapters as much as possible even if mistakes are made now and again. I just hope I don't burn out as much with future chapters and stories and I catch much of my first-time mistakes so you can enjoy my stories to their original intent.

Considering it is a long chapter I hope I catch all the mistakes I might of made while writing this and hope you guys spot the ones I missed or point out corrections to my passages that could use some work. Also I'm not very familiar with writing about science fiction that much especially regarding details about the fabrics of time and space and how the exact formula for writing about it is correct so I went with a simple route with it but if you guys know of a good place where I can easily write such facts with not that much knowledge it would be great!

One last thing, sorry if my OC character Chris Corona comes out as OP but he's suppose to be an over-the-top fighter and he already has battle experience and abilities, if you've seen the Prologue, but I'll have him hold back most of his abilities plus most of his powers are currently dormant at the moment so he doesn't outshine a lot of the cast. Though he won't be winning all battles but I'll see what I can do so it doesn't seem like I'm making a god-modding character... perhaps a DBZ-like fighter was too much to add into the story?

This is VirusChris signing off! We are not some pawns of scripted fate and we make our futures future from the invisible bonds that tie us!


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